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Scary Perry

7:34

Its been reported that the angels are wary of spending too much money on second tier starters (e.g Paxton or Odorizzi). Where does that leave them for pitching help besides Bauer?

Mark P

7:35

Maybe a trade, or maybe they end up with one of those second-tier types anyway, just at an acceptable price point

Braves

7:35

Why wouldn’t the Braves go after JTR? If there is a DH he could hit there to give him rest. He’s be a big Nat and would allow us to trade Contreras.

Mark P

7:37

Six years after Russell Martin, it would fun to see Anthopoulos go big on another free agent catcher signing. Realmuto makes sense in Atlanta, but I would suspect they feel okay enough at the catching position (d'Arnaud for now, Contreras for the future) to spend their resources elsewhere.

7:38

This all being said.....a galaxy brain move might be to sign Realmuto and then try to deal d'Arnaud. I kind of feel the Nationals might try this same tactic in signing JTR and trading Gomes

Tribe fan

7:38

How confident are you that Lindor gets traded this offseason

Mark P

7:38

I would be shocked if he wasn't traded, barring an injury or something weird

Knuckle ball Legend

7:39

RIP Phil Niekro. Pretty impressive to make the hall as a knuckler!

Mark P

7:39

Truly a great, one-of-a-kind pitcher.

7:40

MLB and MLBPA better get on the same page. Delay to the season is going to lead to more damage to the sport.

Mark P

7:41

A delayed start isn't the worst thing in the world, and it's even a sensible one given how COVID numbers are on the rise.

But the key is, the league and the union have to reach such a decision in full cooperation. All the public sniping and arguing last summer made baseball look bad. I hope logic and sanity prevail on both sides, but I worry that the looming CBA talks will make things worse rather than better

Ben Cherington

7:42

My payroll is almost nothing. Any chance I will take on a bad contract in exchange for getting a prospect? Will I sign a major league free agent who I can later trade later at the deadline. My team should have the financial flexibility to make these moves.

Mark P

7:43

You'd think so, but there hasn't been any indication the Pirates are doing to spend anything but the bare minimum.

Hank Thompson

7:44

Is it safe to assume, when a team sours on an inexperienced player, that the team knows more, based on having more info about that player than anyone from the outside looking in? In other words, is it fair for fans to criticize a team for not giving young players more of a chance? thanks Mark.

Mark P

7:45

In a lot of cases, I tend to agree. But, there are also lots of instances where a once-hyped prospect initially struggles in the big leagues, and then only breaks out once traded to another team.

Clubs make mistakes in development, after all, even on prospects they expect big things from in the future.

Justin

7:45

When can we expect the stove to finally heat up? Time is running thin if players end up reporting as usual.

Mark P

7:46

The Padres packed an offseason's worth of activity into 24 hours last weekend, so there's one example of how quickly the dominoes can fall for a team once one move is made

grw

7:47

Outside of the no-trade clauses, does Jason Heyward for Justin Upton make sense?

Mark P

7:48

Why would the Cubs want the older and only marginally less-expensive player coming off the worse season?

Weary Redbird

7:48

So what can the Cardinals actually do with Matt Carpenter? Hope for the best? As of now, he is starting at third.

Mark P

7:49

Not much to do besides hope on Carpenter, barring a bad contract swap type of trade

M’s Fan

7:50

Why is Seager’s poison pill such a dealbreaker? Seems like his stats justify 2/30 as a better deal than 1/16 or whatever

Mark P

7:51

To recap: Seager is owed $18MM in 2021 and there's a club option for $15MM in 2022. That option becomes guaranteed, however, is Seager is dealt (and the option could grow to $20MM based on unspecified plate appearances or award incentives)

7:52

So, not a small amount of money for a player entering his age-33 season, even if Seager has been pretty good the last couple of years. If he was a free agent on the market now, I have doubts he'd get two years/$33MM.

Kevin

7:53

Braves and athletics trade. Matt Chapman?

Mark P

7:53

A trade for a player like Chapman would seem more like AA's style than signing a Realmuto, for instance

Nick Krall

7:55

Who do I trade away this offseason?

Mark P

7:56

(Nick Krall = Reds front office boss. Incidentally, I also automatically type "Nick Kroll" whenever referencing Krall, out of sheer force of habit.)

It could be that the Reds *might* be done moving all they money they feel comfortable in moving. If you take the stance that relief pitching is very fungible this offseason, Iglesias and Bradley could be replaced at a much lower cost.

7:57

That said, I do suspect the Reds might unload one more contract before the winter is over.

Josh

8:00

Trevor Bauer was in Denver. Any chance the Rockies make him an offer?

Mark P

8:01

That would be a wholly unexpected pivot from the Rockies, so chances are extremely slim

Boom Shakalaka

8:02

With the hot stove moving so slow, do you have any insight into what front offices are doing with their time? Literally just calling agents all day to check in, or working on player dev, analytics, etc.

Mark P

8:03

I'd actually love a "day in the life" type of look at what a front office exec does on any random offseason day. Obviously such a piece would hinge on particular talks with one agent/player/team, but it would be cool to see what a normal (or as normal as it gets in 2020-21) offseason day looks like.

8:04

Plus, I assume executives are just spending their times on these MLBTR chats looking for trade advice.

Like, Mike Rizzo is scrolling down the page and suddenly does a spit-take. "Trade Carter Kieboom?! Why didn't we think of that?!"

Jed Hoyer

8:05

Do I already have a deal in place to trade Contreras to the Angels, and i'm just waiting until Realmuto signs to see if I can get more from them (or the Blue Jays)

Mark P

8:06

I'm going to assume that after the Joc Pederson thing last offseason, the Angels aren't getting involved in any wait-and-see type of transactions that hinge on other teams' moves

Molina

8:06

Who signs me?

Mark P

8:06

At the end of the day, I think he'll end up back in STL

DoritosLocosTacos

8:07

Fiery, nacho cheese, or cool ranch?

Mark P

8:07

None of the above. Not a Doritos guy.